La traduzione delle canzoni: ricerca e pratica. Proposta di traduzione e commento traduttologico del manuale accademico di Xue Fan

Abstract

Song translation is a field that has not sparked any interest in Translation Studies until quite recent times. Translating a song is not just about a literal rendering of the lyrics into another language. When translating a song, many factors, both linguistic and extralinguistic, come into play. Song translation is both an interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary field. It is “interdisciplinary” because it interacts with other disciplines like music. As a matter of fact, when encountering a song, a translator has to deal with all the constraints that the pre-existing music puts on the text, whilst “intradisciplinary” refers to its interconnection with other kinds of translation, such as audiovisual translation (AVT) and poetry translation. The present study consists of four main chapters. The first chapter provides an insight into the peculiar and extremely complex activity of song translation. In the first section of the chapter, several definitions of the target text are provided as a result of the song translation process. It also discusses some practical and ethical issues, and some controversies: do we need song translation? Is it even possible to translate a song? What are the basic music knowledge skills that a translator needs to be equipped with? The second section expounds the main approaches to song translation in terms of functionalism. In this context, we refer mainly to the work of two of the most distinguished theorists in this field: Peter Low and Johan Franzon. The former has contributed significantly to the subject with his pioneering approach to song translation, namely, “the pentathlon approach”. The latter points out five options that a song translator can choose from. Moreover, they both examine and focus on the concept of “singability”, providing their own definition of the term. The second chapter investigates song translation within Chinese Translation Studies. It first outlines the history of song translation in China and identifies four relevant periods for the development of this field. Secondly, it takes into consideration an increasingly widespread phenomenon in China which has not yet received due attention: the amateur translation of lyrics on the web. After a brief illustration of the Chinese terms that are commonly used in reference to song translation, the chapter turns its attention to the core of this dissertation: Xue Fan and his song translation theory. Xue Fan is one of the pioneers in the field of song translation. Thanks to his many years of research and experience, he made ground-breaking contribution to the field with his standard treatise on the subject: Song Translation: Research and Practice. Lastly, the chapter reviews the content of the aforementioned handbook, which is also the prototext translated in this thesis. The third chapter consists of the Italian translation of the preface and of a chapter selected from Xue’s handbook. The choice of this specific prototext was made with the firm belief that an international approach is the key to the improvement of the subject itself, and that getting close to the field from a different culture and perspective can contribute to fill the global gap in song translation studies. The final chapter presents a translation analysis, where the detailed translational process which has led to the final target text comes to light. The commentary begins with a macrostrategy defining the main features which have affected the “translational action” of the whole text, such as the identification of the model reader and of the dominant. It eventually elucidates the microstrategies adopted to overcome specific translational problems. A glossary of musical and poetic technical terms and a list of references are provided at the end of this thesis.